Finding Home
by DarkestWolfx
Summary: Two weeks after Rhydian left with his mum and younger brother he turns up at school during lesson time. After being classified as missing everyone is glad to see him, but that is until they see him. Spoilers for 1x13 and possibly for some of series 1.
1. Chapter 1

Hey, this is set two weeks after the series one finale (1x13,) so it has some spoilers for that. I hope you like it.

* * *

It had been two weeks since Rhydian had left with his Mum and younger Brother and still only the Smith's, Tom and Shannon know the real truth.

The Vaughans weren't quite saw what happened to him and Kay; Kara; Katrina; Jimi; Sam and Liam remembered Brin and the story about him being a new foster placement to which the Vaughans had never heard about. So they assumed that either Rhydian had been kidnapped by this young boy and whoever else had been with him or that Rhydian had run away.

The police had given it forty eight hours before setting up some in town searches and questionings for him for twenty four hours before moving to search outside of the town and still there had been no sight of him, not that Maddy had been expecting them to find him now that he was with Ceri.

Even at school it had been different since Rhydian left. Jimi (who was just starting to treat Rhydian as a friend) had asked once if they had found him, to which Maddy's answer could only be a no. Of course the three K's had asked, but then they would.

Bernie had filled Maddy in on the events that had happened in his cafe and Maddy did her best not to chip in with other things that Bernie didn't know that would put a little bit more sense into his story.

Tom and Shannon were both missing Rhydian especially Tom who had finally managed to get him into football and late night DVD marathons at his when his Mum was working the late shifts at the hospital.

Shannon missed how he could understand her so easily and would talk to her when someone had put her down especially about her 'beast' and to some extent she missed the vegan chocolate that he shared with her whenever he had some.

Maddy missed having another wolfblood of her age to talk to and share adventures with.

Even her parents were now regretting making such a harsh decision so quickly and all of the Smiths decided that Rhydian would most likely have stayed and let Ceri and Bryn go if they hadn't been so quick to push him away, because really it wasn't his fault. Maddy seconded this when she reminded them that Rhydian really didn't want to live the rest of his life in a cave, that he did get slightly claustrophobic - which he had been trying to learn to combat while in their pack - and that he had been (for once in his life of different care home after care home: different people after different people) he was finally happy here.

The day of the Dark Moon day had passed a few days ago and Maddy once again had the energy to be running through the woods to school.

She had already informed Shannon and Tom of the Full Moon day (although it was more of a full moon night) and the Dark Moon day and the effects that they had on a wolfblood after their first transformation and the pair had understood that quite easily and had agreed to help Maddy to keep her secret from everyone else.

Today's day at school had been boring so far and everyone was waiting for lunch time, however before that they had to endure an hours worth of PE. They were playing football at the moment as they had just finished doing netball last week, which Shannon and Maddy were disappointed about more than anyone else in their class, but Tom was happy now that they were playing his favourite sport.

Maddy and Shannon ended up on Tom and Jimi's team, which wasn't overall to bad as they could have been put in a team separately. Jimi had become a lot nicer to them after Rhydian had joined the football team and talked to them quite a bit more as of late. She had been surprised when he had enquired about Rhydian, let alone hold a full on conversation with them with it not being a complete joke or stupid prank of his, Liam and Sam's.

Tom and Jimi had just managed to score a goal for there team when Maddy saw something move out of the corner of her eyes. Her wolf scenses were kicking in and Maddy began to wonder if it was a wild wolf blood.

Shannon had noticed this and tapped her arm to bring her back to the football game that they were currently playing. Maddy and Shannon cheered for the goal that their team had scored, however Maddy hadn't put her heart into it.

Suddenly something caught her eye as it ran out of the trees and to the edge of the school grounds. Maddy looked at the figure: recognising it all to easily.

"Rhydian!" Maddy called as she ran over to her friend. Shannon looked at Tom and Tom looked back at Shannon, before they too ran over to join Maddy at Rhydian's side.

Jimi followed as well as most of their class, but Maddy wasn't really focusing on them at this moment in time.

Rhydian had climbed back onto his feet by the time that everyone else joined him and Maddy - having been too shocked and excited to see him - hadn't quite noticed the state that he was in.

There were leaves in his hair, mud on his shoes and his clothes were covered in dirt. Maddy gave a little smile and raised a hand to pull the leaves out of his hair. Rhydian flinched away from her touch slightly, but she continued until she took her hand away and saw red.

Shannon and Tom were stood either side of her and noticed this as well and looked up at Rhydian in confusion forgetting all of the cheery hellos and welcome backs that they had thought of for the minute.

"Rhydian are you-" Maddy began to ask although she was cut off by Rhydian falling forward when his knees buckled. Tom was quick enough to move forward and grab Rhydian before he hit the ground. Maddy and Shannon kneeled down beside them.

"Get help!" Maddy shouted desperately to the others who had gathered around behind them and a few of them ran towards the school and a few to their teacher.

An ambulance and three paramedics arrived a little while later and took Rhydian from Tom and looked him over quickly before covering him with a blanket and moving him out of the way to do many other things that Maddy didn't pay attention to. Instead she ran over to the paramedic who followed behind the other two.

"Excuse me," She started, "Will he be alright?"

"You'll have to wait until he's at the hospital to know all of that for sure," She told her before noticing Maddy's slightly downtrodden look, "What's your name? We'll get them to ring you."

"Maddy Smith." She replied as the paramedic gave a nod of her head and walked over towards the ambulance. Maddy had barely noticed Tom and Shannon come over to stand beside her and place a hand on her shoulder.

So as Rhydian was taken away in the ambulance, all Maddy could do was wait and hope.

* * *

Okay, sorry that's it's short, but I hope to make the second chapter longer. I hope you all had a good Christmas and a Happy New year and thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I will try and make my next update a bit quicker.

* * *

The Vaughans had been told by the school that Rhydian had turned up and been taken to hospital. Maddy, Shannon and Tom had watched the ambulance leave until it was out of sight completely before turning back to their lesson.

Lunch had been different for their whole class afterwards. The excitement that had previously been held by them all had diminished into nothing and for once they had all sat at the same table: in silence.

When lunch was over they all headed off to their last lesson - which was maths - but it wasn't like any of them were really going to pay attention.

Shannon and Tom headed to Bernie's after school with Jimi, Sam, Liam, Kara, Kay and Katrina, but Maddy declined the kind offer to join them and made her way home through the woods. She walked rather than ran as she made her way towards her home. The woods seemed peaceful as she walked through them, looking up at the sun peaking its way through the branches of the trees as she made her way along the path.

Maddy hadn't noticed that she had stopped walking until she heard her mobile phone ringing from inside of her pocket. Quickly she tore her eyes away from the sun and the trees and reached into her pocket to grab the ringing piece of plastic.

Quickly pressing the answer button, she raised the phone to her ear, "Hello?" She asked, as having not checked the number before answering she didn't know whether or not she knew the number: Maddy hoped she didn't.

"Hello, is this Maddy Smith?

"Yeah it is." She replied, wondering if this was the hospital ringing her.

"Hello, this is hospital. We were asked to phone you regarding a Rhydian Morris."

"Yes, how is he? Is he alright?"

"Yes he is. I've been asked to tell you that you can visit him tomorrow if you would like to."

"Okay. I'll come and see him tomorrow then. Thank you." As Maddy lowered the phone from her ear she gave a small smile at the fact that Rhydian was alright before continuing her walk home while sending a text to Shannon and Tom to relay what she had just been told.

* * *

At school the next morning, everyone started shouting questions at Maddy as she walked into the classroom. The young Wolfblood heard none of the questions in whole and what she managed to put together was a rather strange sentence that didn't really make any sense.

Maddy puzzled over there shouts as she sat down and watched as everyone's eyes followed her as she sat down in the chair next to Shannon and placed her bag on the floor by the bottom of the table.

It was only a moment later when she noticed everyone's chairs scooting closer to her by the second until she, Shannon and Tom were surrounded by a circle of people sat on chairs, staring at her intently.

"So?" Kay asked.

"How is he?" Katrina finished before Kay could even say anymore.

"The hospital said that I can visit him later, but until then I don't really know. They wouldn't say anymore over the phone." Maddy replied just as Mr Jeffries walked in, causing everyone to quickly move back to their places: the sound of many chairs scraping along the floor echoed around the classroom.

* * *

After school, Maddy began to walk towards the hospital when Tom and Shannon caught up to her and started to walk alongside her. Maddy shot them both questioning looks, not because they were coming with her though (she didn't mind that.)

What Maddy was questioning was the box of chocolates that Shannon held and the massive bouquet of flowers that Tom held, which - if Maddy was honest - were covering his face and it was a wonder that he could even see where he was going.

"Um, what are they for?" She asked curiously as she pointed towards the objects, not even sure if Tom could see her gesture.

"Oh," Shannon started, "The chocolates are from Jimi, Sam and Liam."

"He Lows fo Ka, Karin ad Kar." Tom spoke, although neither Maddy nor Shannon really heard what he said with the flowers covering his face, muffling his voice. Maddy reached out and took them from him and Tom repeated his answer.

"The flowers are from Kay, Katrina and Kara."

"I should have guessed." Maddy replied as she handed the flowers back to him as they continued to walk to the hospital.

* * *

The walk didn't take them long at all and they soon found themselves at the reception desk asking after a Rhydian Morris. The three of them were given directions to his room and once there, they met with his Doctor who agreed that Maddy could go in and see him. Tom and Shannon handed her the flowers and the chocolates before getting the door for her.

Once the door had shut behind Maddy she looked over at her friend who was already looking over at her.

"What are they for?" Rhydian asked pointing to the flowers.

"They're a present," Maddy replied, continuing when she saw the look on Rhydian's face, "Not from me. They're from Kay, Kara and Katrina. The chocolates are from Jimi, Sam and Liam though."

"Oh. Thank them for me will you?"

"Yeah, I will," Maddy replied as she placed them on the table beside Rhydian's bed before pulling a chair over to his bedside, "Have the Vaughans been in to see you yet?" She asked trying to start a conversation.

"No, they were taking the advice that they were given to have a short break and not worry about me being missing for a few days. They're travelling back today, they'll be in later and so will the police."

"The police, why?" Maddy asked, although she knew it was a stupid question.

"They want to know what actually happened," Rhydian started, "Why I ran away, why a came back, why I'm currently in hospital, where I've been: those sorts of things."

"Well what are you going to tell them? That you ran away with your Mum and your Younger Brother to live in the wild, because you're all wolfbloods?" At the mention of his Mother, Rhydian looked slightly saddened and Maddy wondered if she had actually touched onto the problem of why Rhydian had come back all of a sudden.

When he had turned up at school, Maddy hadn't really looked at his injuries - she didn't even know that he had any when she had looked at him, he had looked absolutely fine. But then she had found blood in his hair and that gave across a whole different option.

"How are you feeling?" Maddy asked, trying to change the subject as Rhydian obviously didn't want to talk about his Mother at all.

"Alright," Rhydian replied, "Or as alright as you can be when you're stuck in hospital and you're completely bored."

"I could always get you some books or something from home," Maddy suggested, "Either that or I can bring you some of the school work that you've missed."

"I'll take the first option," Rhydian (predictably) answered which made Maddy laugh slightly as he smiled at her for the first time since she had last seen him, "Just a question, where is home now for you?"

"Same as before," Maddy replied, "Shannon and Tom promised not to tell, so we stayed. They said that you had come to see them."

"Yeah," Rhydian paused and Maddy wondered what the end of that sentence was meant to say, "Are they here? Tom and Shannon I mean?"

"Yeah, there outside. They thought that I might like to talk to you first being a wolfblood and all. Do you want to see them?" Rhydian nodded and Maddy stood up and headed for the door. Opening it she saw Tom and Shannon sat outside, reading the new play that they were doing in drama now. When they heard the door open, they both looked up at her.

"Is he alright, Madds?" Tom asked curiously as he stood up. Shannon stood up as well and waited for Maddy's answer.

"He seems it," She told them, "I haven't asked about his injuries yet. I'm trying to cheer him up, but he said that he wanted to see you guys too."

"Has he mentioned anything?" Shannon asked, "About what happened to him and why he's suddenly come back?"

"No, but he didn't look thrilled when I mentioned his Mother, so I would avoid mentioning her if possible."

"Alright, Madds." Tom replied before Maddy opened the door again and let them both walk in before she shut it carefully behind her. Rhydian looked up at Tom and Shannon as they walked in and pulled chairs over for themselves as well.

"Hey." Rhydian greeted with a small wave of his right hand and arm, which - apart from his head and neck - was the only other part of his body that wasn't being covered by the blanket.

"Alright mate," Tom greeted, "You'll never guess how much you've been missed. Jimi and the rest of the football team have gone crazy."

"Kay, Kara and Katrina as well," Shannon started, "They ask about you all the time. You should have seen them today at school. They stalked us through the corridors and wouldn't leave us alone in the hope of getting told something."

The four of them sat there talking for quite a while longer before they all said goodbye. Tom and Shannon left the hospital together while Maddy went to see the receptionist to ask her a small question.

"Do you think it would be possible for me to come back and see Rhydian in a bit?" She asked, "I was just going to get him some books and stuff to read."

"I'm sure it will be fine for you to come back and see him as long as you are back before eleven o clock."

"I will be." Maddy replied as she left. It was quarter to six now. Of she ran she could be home just after six. Mum always did tea for half six, they would be finished eating by seven at the latest and they could leave the dishes to later after they had been back to see Rhydian.

So that was what they did.

* * *

The car journey to the hospital didn't take very long and when they parked up, Maddy slung the rucksack over her shoulder and began to walk towards the hospital, her parents following behind. She had remembered which room Rhydian was in and so didn't need to ask as she lead her parents through the hospital.

When they entered the room, Rhydian had his eyes shut and Maddy wondered briefly if he was sleeping, but he opened them a second later and looked at her.

"You're back."

"Yep and I brought you these," Maddy said as she sat down on a chair and placed the bag on her lap, "There are two or three magazines that Tom gave me, a few books that I borrowed from Shannon's bookcase or as I call it - the miniature library and there's also a pencil case and a sketch pad for you."

"Thanks, Madds."

"Your welcome," Maddy then looked over in her parents direction, "They want to talk to you." Her Mum and Dad made their way over to sit in the other chairs that were in the room and looked at Rhydian.

"We would like to apologise." Maddy's Father started.

"We shouldn't have ordered you out of our pack. You were happy here and we had no right to do that." Her Mother finished.

"It's alright," Rhydian told them, "I understand why you did."

"Well your back now, so if you wanted to stay..." Maddy's Father trailed off, because the rest of the sentence didn't really need saying.

Maddy and her parent's sat with Rhydian for a little while before mentioning what had been on all of the wolfblood's minds that evening.

"What are you going to tell the police and the Vaughans?" Maddy asked.

"You could say you were kidnapped." Mr Smith suggested.

"But he wasn't, so he can't." Maddy replied.

"Well, Rhydian, what exactly did happen?" Mrs Smith asked, "That way we can change parts if we feel the need to."

"Okay, that makes sense." Maddy replied before turning to Rhydian who looked back at her.

"It was Ceri." He said eventually and Maddy looked at her parents in confusion as to what Ceri had done. She was, after all, Rhydian's Mother and would surely never harm him intentionally. Her Dad was the one to voice the same thought that had just passed her mind a second later.

"She's your Mother though? Surely she would never hurt you?"

"Well that obviously doesn't mean anything to her." Rhydian replied monotonely. Maddy's parents got up and decided that they would wait for Maddy in the car as it became obvious after sitting in silence for a few minutes that Rhydian didn't want to talk about his Mother anymore this evening.

"Rhydian," Maddy began carefully, "What actual injuries do you have? I never really saw and never really asked you either." Rhydian sat up more and pulled his left arm out from under the blanket to show Maddy the coloured cast that was over it.

"Broken wrist, fractured ankle, hit to the head and a broken rib." He told her.

"Lucky you," Maddy replied sarcastically before sighing, "I'd better get going. Mum and Dad will be waiting for me and I - even though you don't - have school tomorrow."

"Lucky you." Rhydian copied using the same sarcastic tone. Maddy gave him a smile and a wave as she left and Rhydian searched the backpack for a book that looked worth reading. It didn't take him long to find one.

* * *

Maddy looked up at the ceiling that night, wondering what had happened to Rhydian. She knew now that it was something to do with Ceri, but that could be many things and she couldn't take a random guess at one.

Ten days. In ten days the moon would be full again and even though Rhydian was back, it didn't seem like they would be able to spend it together. Or rather they would, but they probably wouldn't be able to go anywhere. Smaller injuries healed quicker when you were a wolfblood, but it didn't quite work the same with broken bones.

As she shut her eyes the last thing she saw out of her bedroom window was the waxing moon.

* * *

Alright, I hope to get the next chapter up soon. Please check out some of my other stories too. At the moment I only have others for Merlin, but my profile says what I will be writing for in the very near future. Thanks for reading, reviewing, favouriting and alerting.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the extremely long wait on this chapter, but school, exams and life in general – including my computer dying on me and then having one problem after another – I was unable to type this up for a while, but I am now back :)

Also you have my cousins to thank for this being uploaded today and not tomorrow as they managed to fix my internet connection even though I couldn't and they are only six, five and four. So I now don't have to wait for someone from VirginMedia to come out to our house tomorrow to fix it.

Since this chapter is late I would also like to dedicate to every one of you who has alerted, favourite and reviewed this story. Also I know this chapter is a bit shorter than the ones that I have written in the past, but it's a sort of fill-in chapter before the next few.

* * *

A couple of days had passed now since Rhydian had first returned. Maddy left school in a happy mood that day. The nearing full moon was giving her more energy than usual. Waving goodbye to Shannon and Tom as she climbed into her parents' car, they soon set off for the hospital and to go and get Rhydian.

The Vaughan's had come to pick Rhydian up yesterday, but he had refused to go home with them or anyone in fact except Maddy and her parents. Both of whom, today had spent the entire day convincing Rhydians social worker worthwhile reasons why him going home with them wasn't a stupid idea. In the end, the social worker had agreed and the Vaughans had seen no real problem with it either.

Although it had made some people question if Rhydian was losing his mind slightly.

* * *

Maddy's Dad was in charge of pushing Rhydians wheelchair which in three weeks would be a set of crutches instead hopefully if his injuries healed well. Mrs Smith was almost certain that the full moon would help slightly even if it couldn't heal the break it the bone straight away over one night.

The car ride home to the Smith's house was silent until Maddy told a rather bad joke and set of an entire set of them from her Dad that in the end had both herself and Rhydian in stitches and her Mum struggling not to laugh. They managed to get home just before eight o clock and managed to grab something to eat before heading downstairs and locking themselves in the basement.

"I think I'm getting claustrophobic already." Rhydian said as Mr Smith shut the final door.

"You're not going to back out on me now are you?" Maddy questioned and Rhydian shook his head.

"No," He answered, "Not just yet anyway."

The moon rose into the night sky and soon there were four wolves locked in the basement.

* * *

Shannon had been slightly saddened that Maddy had been The Beast of Stoneybridge Moor. She had quite enjoyed the looking for one with her three friends and to be honest it had made her feel like she had something else to do other than doing her homework, reading books and blogs and reading up on werewolves – correction Wolfbloods – and wolfs that could be found on the moors.

Being called crazy was the only part that she really missed and now that she knew the truth, she felt absolutely terrible for accusing Maddy of being 'The Beast' even though that was exactly what Maddy was except not at all beastly: neither was Rhydian.

Looking at the full moon, it made her wish that she could be there with Maddy, Rhydian and her parents to see their wolf form once again. She had given Maddy the photos that she had taken that late afternoon when she had first truly seen Maddy and Rhydian change form and her brunette friend had told her to simply ask at any time if she wanted to have another look at the photos, but Shannon tried to forget about it all for a while.

Even though it was just for everyone else to see that she had moved on while all the time, she was guarding a brilliant and fantastic secret that no one else could ever know and that to her was one of the most precious things that she had in her life.

That and her friendship with her friends.

* * *

Tom had stayed up late to watch the football that he had missed earlier on repeats. He stayed up as late as he could, but he still had fifthteen minutes of the second half to watch when he fell asleep which also meant that he completely missed his phone beeping to signify a new message.

* * *

Maddy walked into the living room space the next morning to find her Dad and Rhydian watching a film on TV and she curiously stood to watch them for a second before heading towards the front door with her school bag. Her Mother dropped her to school that day and once she was there she was shocked to find no Shannon or Tom anywhere to be seen.

Tom rushed over to her a moment later, only two minutes before they were supposed to be in class. He seemed slightly out of breath and was holding his mobile phone out towards her. Maddy watched him for a moment before reaching out and taking the device from him carefully and reading the lit up LSD screen.

There was a text from Shannon.

Maddy read it in silence and then re-read it once again before looking up at Tom, who had now gotten his breath back.

"She's done what?" Maddy asked, but it was an explanation as well.

"She's gone up onto the moor," Tom answered before changing Maddy's attention, "Read the time that she sent it though." Maddy's eyes travelled to the bottom of the LSD screen where the time and date of when the message was sent was being displayed.

"What on earth was she thinking?" Maddy questioned before running off towards the moor.

"Maddy, where are you going?" Tom asked, "Madds? Maddy?"

"I'm going to find Shannon," She told her friend, "She sent this last night, she could be anywhere by now."

"So we're just going to skip school?" The other questioned from just outside the building. Maddy stopped running and turned to face him.

"What's more important? Finding Shannon or going to school?" She asked and Tom remained where he was for a moment before running towards her and joining her as they ran towards the moor.

"Do you think there are any wolfbloods out there?" He asked, "You know the wild ones like Rhydian's Mother?"

"I don't know which is why we need to find Shannon, so come on," Maddy told Tom as she ran, "Try to keep up."

"I'll be my best," The football player replied as he followed his female friend, "But you have an unfair advantage."

Maddy must admit that she had found Tom's comment slightly funny, but now was not the time to be laughing or hesitating for she was feeling that same presence that she had felt when Rhydian had reappeared and she was certain, absolutely one hundred percent certain, that she was not sensing Rhydians presence at all, but somebody else's.

And she had a good guess as to whose.

* * *

Sorry for the wait for this chapter once again, but I would like to thank you all for the alerts, favourites and reviews so far as they really do mean a lot to me. I'll try to upload another chapter near the weekend. Thanks for reading.


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